Valve.



J. A. mm.

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' APPLIOATIOH IILEILJU-LY 18, 1810. v 7 302 Patented 0ct.'21, 1913.

INVENTORY WITNESSES:

abies.. i i

a had to the accompanying drawings, forming 3. p r themi i valves, andparticularly to improvements in 2b it may concern ,a citi'z en l of theUnited States of America, and EtlQSlllQIlhOf New York, county and Statev of New Yorki ave invented'certain new and I useful Improvements inValves, of which the sure. being contained in the pipe line up tothrough that portion of the pipe normally containing air only and so tothe sprinklers,

su cient height might be formed such as as a portion of the air pipe isoften located at 35 .tion and novel combinations of parts, such -nn eaOF NEW YORK, N. Y..

"VALVE.

I Be; it brown that I, J osnrrr A. MoEnRoY,

followingis a specification, reference being I ll/1y invention relatesto improvements in valves ior fire extinguisher systems.

.lrr; the, class of fire extinguisher systems referred to there is apipe line havinga valve therein at one point, water under presthevalve,and air under pressure being contained in the pipe line upon the otherside of the valve, thev valve being kept ;normally closed by thesuperior pressure of the air but adapted to be opened by the water whenthe air pressure is relieved, as by the blowing of a fuse, so. that. atsuch times water will rush lnsuch form of valve it is exceedinglyimportant that water be prevented from leaking into the. portion of thepipe system which, for. convenience, I will term the air pi e, first,because ahydrostatic column of would prevent the opening of the valveupon the release of arr pressure; and second,

the exterior of a building or in some partiof the-building which is notheated, the water might freeze in the pipe and so lockup the entiresystem. 1 V 7 With the foregoing in view I have designed a form of valvein which should leakageoccur as a result thereof the water will not bepermitted to collect in the air pipe but will be carried away.Furthermore, in being thus carried away there 1s a sure indication thata leakage exists and which may thus be promptly attended to.

.My invention also consists in a double form of valve, one portion ofwhich opposes the flow of water, and the other the flow of air, and incertain other details of construcas will be fully pointed outhereinafter.

In order that my invention may be fully understood, I will now proceedto descrlbe Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented 0017.21, 1913.

Application filofi'liuly 1'8, 191%). Serial No. 5%,239.

same, and will then point out the novel features in the claim.

, In the drawings: Figure 1 is a view in central vertical sectionthrough a valve constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is aview in horizontal section through the valve casing, and Fig-31s adetail view in vertical section through the valve casing, the point ofview thereof being at right angles to the point of view of Fig. 1.

" The'casing of the valve in the form shown 1 herein comprises twoportions 5 and 6 secured together by bolts 7 which pass through flangeswith which the said port-io'nsare rovlded, the upper and lowerextremities o the said casing portions being provided with flanges towhich theair pipe and water pipes may be secured. The lower casingportion is provided with two corresponding valve seats 8'8 arranged atan angle to the horizontal and to each other, and valve members 9-9 arefitted thereto. These valve members are conveniently connected by linkslO -IO'to the casing portion 5, being pivotally connected at 11-11 tothe upper end of the links, the said links being in turn pivotallyconnected at their lower ends 1212 to the base of the casing portion 5.In addition to the valve seats 8- -8 the said casing portion 5 is alsoprovided with two other valve seats ]-13 disposed respectively above andpreferably on a plane substantially parallel with the said valve seats8-8 and concentric therewith. The two valve seats 8-'13 are in eachinstance separated by means of an annular chamber 14, the inner wall ofwhich is provided by the periphery of its valve mem v ber u and each ofthe valve members 9 is provided with a flexible annular disk 15conveniently of rubber or rubber composition adapted for engagement withthe said valve seats 13 -13 and which constitutes a secoint of for thelower valve. By this arrangement, 1m

and the fact that this permits of the link which the valve has but arelatively short movement on the pivot 12 before the centerof gravity ofthe valve-is shifted from one side to the other of the pivot 12,resulting in quickly placing the valve in a position where it will notreturn to its seat by gravity, therefore permitting the water to bedischarged through the valve seat'in an entirely unrestricted manner.

The flexibility of the secondary valves 15 will permit the properseating otthe two valve elements 9 and 15 upon-their respective seats,while the valve element 15 is of such a nature as is efiective toprevent the passage of air past it when it is closed to its seat, thevalve element 9being in turn of a suitable nature to prevent the passageof water past it when it is closed.

The two annular channels 14-14 are pro-- vlcled with connections 16-16arranged in turn for. connection with the branches 1717 of a drain pipe18. At its outer extremity the drain pipe 18 is provided with a ballvalve 19v such as will. normally tend to open by gravity when no wateris wasting therethrough or when a small quantity of water is wastingtherethrough, but on the other hand will be closed by a rush of waterthrough the'pipe should water in any con.- siderable quantity attempt todischarge therethrough.

The operation of the valve is as follows: The normal. position of thevalve parts is that shown in. the drawings, the valve pipe and a portionof the casing above the valve element containing air under pressurewhile the water pipe and a portion of the casing beneath the valveelements are connected with a Water supply and contain water under apressure somewhat less than the pressure of the air in the pipe. Thevalve elements 9-9 in engaging their seats 8- 8 close the air pipeagainst admission of water thereto while the coaction of the flexiblevalve disks 15-15 with their seats 1313 prevents the 1 escape of airfrom the air pipe to the water pipe. Any slight leakage of water pastthe water valves will be drained through the channels 14 and the drainpipe 18 so that should any water leak past the water valves it will notbe permitted to accumulate in the j air pipe.

Under fire conditions the air pressure is relieved in the air pipe andthe water in the water pipe immediately forces the back upon the outerwalls of the lower casing portion, the pivoted links 10 permitting suchmovements freely. The water will now rush from the water pipe into theair pipe and, at the same time it will attempt to rush through the drainpipe, but the quantity of water and the ed at which. it flows will besuch that the all 19 will be swept along with it whereby the end of theydrain pipe will be closed so as to prevent escape of water at this pointand all the water rushing from the water pipe will flow'through the airpipe.

I find it convenientunder ordinary 01rcumstances to maintain a littlewater in the valve casing above the valves, that is to say, enough watermay be contained in the valve casing to cover the valve elements. Thisis advantageous for several reasons, first, it helps to keep the rubberelements in good condition; second, it helps to maintain a tight jointbetween the rubber valve elements and their seats; and third, shouldthere be a leak past the rubber valve elements the effeet will be todischarge this water through the drain pipe andby so doing will indicateto the attendants that the leakage exists, which should be attended to.'Such an indication also results, of course, if any water leaks past thewater valves or either of them.

'What I claim is:

A valve for dry-pipefire extinguisher systems comprising a casingforming a water connection at the bottom and an air connection at thetop in alinement with the water connection, and an intermediate chamber;two sets of oppositely and upwardly. in-. clined valves, each setcomprising a air of annular seats of different diameters in dif-

